Playing live gigs perhaps is the best way to get in front of your fans to interact with them in real-time. Why? Because you are delivering a unique viewing experience. An experience for the fan base who might never have a chance to see the concert in person.

Live streaming is not necessarily a substitute for concert-going, but it is an additive experience for viewers who wouldn’t regularly be able to join in the event.

When you get a community of followers watching your concert simultaneously, it allows for spontaneous and passionate interaction.

There come unexpected questions, feedback into your work, two-way interaction, and sharing time with your supporters. This is why musicians always favor live streaming their concerts.

Benefits of live streaming concerts

Live streaming offers music bands a plethora of benefits- the most obvious reason being a new stream of revenue. While physical venues can sell out easily, thousands of fans can tune in a single live stream simultaneously, meaning artists can sell many more tickets than they could during an in-person concert.

Live streaming need not always be live concerts, it can be anything from a live interview with band members and behind the scenes live actions. By offering a sneak peek of your performance sessions, you can entertain your audience to a whole different level.

While the power to reach thousands of fans with the click of a button is amazing, it is not really easy to live stream concerts. You need to get a lot of things right at the same time.

Here are the top 10 things to do to live stream your concerts successfully.

1. Quality is super important

A study indicated that the video quality of live streaming is one of the most significant factors for over 67% of visitors.

Yes, it is absolutely alright to use your smartphone to broadcast live, but make sure you stabilize the phone on a tripod.

However, if you want to deliver a top-notch viewing experience, you must go further and invest in two or more cameras, a switch, and live streaming software.

While the upfront costs to shoot quality live videos can be high, investing in live videos is cost-efficient in the long term considering its amazing benefits.

2. Solid Internet connection

Delivery of live streams without buffering is not really possible with a high-speed Internet connection. It is recommended to choose a wired internet connection.

Also, ensure there isn’t heavy internet traffic on the network you are broadcasting from.

If many access the same network, the more likely there will be a slowdown in the speed of the Internet and it will affect the performance in turn.

3. Camera placement is critical

When you live stream concerts, be sure to place the camera or multiple cameras in the right location. With a virtual music show, your audience sees through the camera eyes.

This is why it is important to understand how to set up live streaming video in the right way.

Make sure you position the primary camera in a way it offers a nice front-row view of the stage. This provides the viewers with the perspective of being in the best seat in the venue.

If you use multiple cameras to shoot the event, shoot wide shots of the stage, close up of the performers, and vantage points that cover the audience.

4. Light it right

Lighting not only helps to make the view better, but it can also be used to set the mood of the performance space. Use different color combinations in lighting to evoke different emotions based on the type of performance. For example, using green, purple, or blue tones helps to instantly set a calm and mellow vibe.

Whereas colors like Yellow and orange helps to set up an energetic performance space. Learn how to set up live streaming video and experiment with your lighting and backdrop to bring your virtual viewers into space you create for them in real-time.

5. Engage your online audience

When live stream your concerts, it is important to engage your online audience. Remember your fans throughout the entire show.

You can arrange a special team to handle the live stream section. Start communicating with your audience before the event begins.

Best live streaming tools allow you to chat with the audience via instant text messaging on the screen.

This type of interaction will help you get in touch with the online audience and will set the stage for capturing the attention of viewers for the rest of the performance.

The real-time connection with your followers makes them believe in your brand.

6. Focus on audio and video quality

Before starting to live stream your concert, ensure the audio and video quality is great. Don’t rely on the camera’s internal mic as it won’t give the best audience even if the sound source is very near. Invest in high-quality DSLR and microphone to create the best quality live streams.

To ensure your live streams don’t get affected by the background noise, each camera operator must wear a headset and microphone. All camera operators doing the switching will have to understand the narrative of the event to capture the right shots of the concert.

7. Choose the best live streaming platform

Live streaming gives you a lot of opportunities to reach a broad audience at minimal costs. If you plan to choose the social media platform, Facebook is undoubtedly the best platform to stream live concerts.

Even when the live session is over, your fans can still watch the video when it is uploaded to the page. However, platforms like Facebook and YouTube Live pose serious limitations to stream live videos.

With social media live streaming, you won’t have as much control over the viewing experience.

If you are really serious about live streaming your concerts, it is recommended to use live streaming solutions in a dedicated video platform.

8. Live streaming software

The live streaming software is where all the magic happens. Software is what helps you to take your multiple camera inputs and create a polished live stream.

This is also where you can insert overlays, transitions, graphics, etc. on your live videos. There are plenty of live streaming software out there, both free and paid.

Each of this software is designed to meet a variety of different needs and comes with the best live streaming tools. Most software offers free trials so that you can try it to decide which software is the best for you.

9. Draft the content

While live streaming is an unrehearsed form of video, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need a script.

Note down important points to communicate with your audience, which is critical for the success of your live streaming efforts.

You communicate with your audience before the concert begins to give them a brief about the event and what to expect.

For example, if you are running marketing campaigns to promote any merchandise as a part of your performance, consider talking about it so that your viewers get an idea about your products.

You can also rehearse a live broadcast before it actually starts to ensure that everything works fine. For instance, Facebook offers a feature called live rehearsal that allows you to test your live broadcasts where only page admins will be able to view the post.

10. Set up analytics

Once your live concert is done, you need to analyze how it went. Setting up analytics will help you to analyze the performance of your live videos. Make it a practice to include relevant hashtags that can trend on social networks.

If you use live streaming software, choose the one that has analytic integration to track statistics in real-time.

With analytics, you will get to know who all watched your live streams, where they are watching from and what devices they are watching on.

It will not just help to understand your viewership, but will also help in gaining significant insights about your fans and their preferences.

Conclusion

Successful live streaming of concerts doesn’t come easy. The biggest challenge is always the live factor.

While it is challenging to get it right, live streaming comes with a lot of benefits by leaving a lot of room for growth. The more you broadcast live, the better you get at it and the bigger your fan following would be.

Before you live stream your concert, do a test run. Make soundchecks, ensure the camera angle is set right, internet connectivity is on point to make any final adjustments.

We hope this blog helped you to gain a better understanding of live streaming concerts. Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comment section below.